The Men of the 166th Artillery Regiment

Heroes Remember

The Men of the 166th Artillery Regiment

Transcript

Ninety nine percent of them were perfect, couldn’t have been a better crowd of men, I don’t think. Some of our officers were English and our colonel was English, British, I should say, I guess. The most men that I had contact with were Newfoundlanders, really, really a close-knit group, annual conventions and meetings in between. We have a little group right now. Eric Baggs is president, Tom Godden is secretary and I’m Treasurer. We really are a little knit group. Too clannish probably to talk about but that's it. The sergeant, was a chap, Burt Evans from here, he was a much older man, a real soldier, you know, and the next chap to him was from Cornerbrook, he was a real short guy. We used to call him “Stump” Osmond, his name was Osmond, and we used to call him “Stump” Osmond. But he died shortly after he come back, but they were all a wonderful bunch of men. But my buddy Errol Hannam and I were... Interviewer: Very close. Yeah, we were very close. Well, I suppose everybody had their own buddy, you know, that they were close to, but we were all close. We probably had as many good times as we had bad times, probably had more, you had to be, you had to be doing something to survive, I think, I don’t think you could have survived if it was all bad times. Captain Gordon Warren, said to Errol and myself, he said, “I’m gonna give you a stripe.” But Errol said, but when he got me to one side he said, “We’re not gonna put that up,” he said. “We don’t get paid, and we’re gonna be up against our buddies so we’re not gonna put put that up.” So time passed by and Captain Gordon Warren said, “You never put up your tave?” “No sir,” we said, “we, we weren’t getting paid and we didn’t feel like putting it up.” He said, “If you’ll put it up for two weeks, I’ll give you another one.” “Thank you, sir.” But this was my buddy coaching me, sometimes in the wrong direction I think, but it worked out. When time got through we got the second one. I don't know whether I explained this or not but I’m sure it made a better man of me. In one way, it was an education as far as I was concerned, you know, travelling is an education if you take it in the right way and I, I probably would have never seen England, Africa or Rome, if I hadn’t have joined up. I don’t know if it’s, if that’s a good way to look at it or not but, the men that I served with got to be tops for anyone you can think of, they got to be. Tom Godden, Jack Williams, Burt Evans, all them, real men, real men and if, if your with men, I think it makes a man out of you. I felt it made a man out of me anyhow, sir.

Description

Mr. Spracklin describes his experience with the 166th Artillery Regiment and how serving with the men changed him.

Leslie Milton Spracklin

Leslie Milton Spracklin was born in Charlottetown (Bonavista Bay), Newfoundland on September 4, 1917. Mr. Spracklin was going to join the navy with his friends, however his mother had a heart attack and he stayed with her. When another draft came along he joined the army and ended up in the 166th Light Artillery. He went overseas in September, 1942 and the 166th Artillery Regiment went into Italy in the fall of 1943. They spent the winter fighting on the Sangro River and then went on to attack the Germans at Monte Cassino.

Meta Data

Medium:: Video
Owner:: Veterans Affairs Canada
Duration:: 03:34
Person Interviewed:: Leslie Milton Spracklin
War, Conflict or Mission:: Second World War
Location/Theatre:: Europe
Battle/Campaign:: Italian
Branch:: Army
Units/Ship:: 166 Field Artillery Regiment
Rank:: Bombardier
Occupation:: Officer's Assistant

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The Men of the 166th Artillery Regiment

Heroes Remember